Lessons from History

Anthropological genetics is an oddly liminal field—not quite anthropology, yet not quite genetics either. Anthropologists are trained to be attuned to the people they work with; without the goodwill of its objects, the profession cannot exist—but one does not have to secure the goodwill of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to study its DNA haplotypes in depth. Geneticists, however, are more prestigious and better funded—and what scientist doesn't aspire to that?. © 2009, International Cultural Property Society. All rights reserved.